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Advice on improving single stroke speed?

Hello Everyone,

So I've been drumming for a LONG time now and I gig regularly in a garage/punk/surf band. Now I don't have any lessons aside from the occasional Drumeo video,

Anyway, I've gotten to a point where I'm pretty comfortable with 8th note singles around 200-205 for an extended period of time. I can push it a bit further but am not able to stay "loose" and my hands cramp up pretty quick. The singer is starting to write faster stuff and I'm doing my best to keep up but frequently have to switch back to the quarters. I've put together a few single/double exercises on the practice pad, and I do use a metronome. The problem is that it seems my hands may have reached a limit. It was only a few years ago that I discovered doubles, and bumped my singles up from around 150 to where they are now. I'm curious if anyone has any advise for me? Should I just keep plowing away on the pad with the metronome and hope I get up to the speeds I want eventually? Or would I be better suited to learning some like the push pull to improve my speed? To be clear I'm already using a modified push pull with fingers as of now, but I've seen some folks who have it worked out with just their thumb and fingers muscles getting some insane speeds well above 250.

Anything assistance would be appreciated. I'm kind of at a road block here and not sure what I should be working on next.

So I've been drumming for a LONG time now and I gig regularly in a garage/punk/surf band. Now I don't have any lessons aside from the occasional Drumeo video,

Anyway, I've gotten to a point where I'm pretty comfortable with 8th note singles around 200-205 for an extended period of time. I can push it a bit further but am not able to stay "loose" and my hands cramp up pretty quick. The singer is starting to write faster stuff and I'm doing my best to keep up but frequently have to switch back to the quarters. I've put together a few single/double exercises on the practice pad, and I do use a metronome. The problem is that it seems my hands may have reached a limit. It was only a few years ago that I discovered doubles, and bumped my singles up from around 150 to where they are now. I'm curious if anyone has any advise for me? Should I just keep plowing away on the pad with the metronome and hope I get up to the speeds I want eventually? Or would I be better suited to learning some like the push pull to improve my speed? To be clear I'm already using a modified push pull with fingers as of now, but I've seen some folks who have it worked out with just their thumb and fingers muscles getting some insane speeds well above 250.

Anything assistance would be appreciated. I'm kind of at a road block here and not sure what I should be working on next.

Thanks,

I am way slacking in recent months with hand speed. But playing as relaxed as possible and simply bumping the speed up just 1 bpm each week is what you can do. At that point you will see much slower results because it's a lot to ask of your hands and muscles in general. most guys who got that fast or faster didn't just jump to that. They had to do it for hours each week, holding it, staying relaxed, breathing, and playing to a click. Focus on accuracy, equal dynamic between each hit note and control.

Yea that is what I have been doing but haven't improved much in a year which is why I thought my hand muscles might be at their peak. I'll keep at it and see how it goes.

Thanks,

The window for growth gets really small. Then it gets into nuances like head tension. I've found that a slightly medium tight snare head has better feel to me than a cranked one. I feel like the extra bounce fights me sometimes. The other thing is stick size, stick heights, stick tip size. Smaller tip allows you to play faster, but the bigger tip has more rebound. (imagine a basketball vs a tennis ball) it requires more force, but you get better immediate rebound.

Yea that is what I have been doing but haven't improved much in a year which is why I thought my hand muscles might be at their peak. I'll keep at it and see how it goes.

Thanks,

The window for growth gets really small. Then it gets into nuances like head tension. I've found that a slightly medium tight snare head has better feel to me than a cranked one. I feel like the extra bounce fights me sometimes. The other thing is stick size, stick heights, stick tip size. Smaller tip allows you to play faster, but the bigger tip has more rebound. (imagine a basketball vs a tennis ball) it requires more force, but you get better immediate rebound.

The 2 things I've found (just in case they help):
- Practice short bursts, and really push your speed. It's much easier to increase the top speed you can do smoothly with short bursts (like 5 or 7 stroke rolls), then you can also work on maintaining speed at a slightly slower tempo. It takes a bit of time, but definitely works (for me anyway).
- Focus on the bounce of the sticks on the head. For top speed and efficient practice you want to hit hard enough that it's clear and you're actually training your muscles, but also relaxed enough that you can maintain a reasonable speed. Focus on keeping the strokes very precise and straight, keep relaxing your arms/wrists/etc. and mainly focus on controlling the bounce of the sticks on the head.